Shakespeare Theatre
942 E. 43rd Street,
Chicago,
IL
60653
942 E. 43rd Street,
Chicago,
IL
60653
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When the Schoenstadt circuit took over the circa-1910 Ellis Theater in 1914 from Brunhild and Youngs, they renamed it the Shakespeare Theatre. This 954-seat house contained a Kimball organ from the 1920’s onward. In 1931 it was taken over by Warner Brothers Circuit management Inc.
When the Shakespeare Theatre closed in 1961, the theater was later converted into a church.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Is it certain that this theatre was torn down? Looking at Google maps, there is a building at pretty much this address that looks suspiciously like a theatre.
This entry appears to refer to two separate theaters.
The Shakespeare was built as the Shakespeare for the Alfred Hamburger circuit in 1914 and stood at 940 E 43rd. It was never named the Ellis and is demolished.
The pictured building at 932-934 E 43rd is probably the Ellis. I wasn’t able to find much on the Ellis; it was a vaudeville theater in the area but no listed address I could find. It seems to have operated 1910-1915. It was definitely closed by 1925, used by then as a laundry. The architecture is typical of a 1910 theater and it had a small balcony. Probably they closed the Ellis and opened the Shakespeare across the alley.